Washington (CNN) - The Southern Poverty Law Center will designate the Family Research Council, a powerful conservative advocacy organization, as a hate group next year because of its anti-gay views. For its part, the council is already firing back in a statement calling the announcement a "smear campaign."

In the most recent edition of its publication "Intelligence Report," the SPLC included its analysis of 14 years' worth of hate crimes data. The study concluded that gays were more likely to be victims of a violent hate crime than any other minority group. As part of its study, the SPLC made a list titled "18 Anti-Gay Groups and Their Propaganda." The SPLC said it would designate 13 of the 18 groups on the list as "hate groups" in 2011, including the Family Research Council.FULL POST